The Tide
by Kuzosama
Summary: Discontinued. As the world is slowly swept by a strange phenomenon that turns Pokemon into more dangerous, super aggresive monsters, professor Oak comes to a discovery that may yet put a stop to the impending doom of the human race.
1. The Calm Before the Storm

_**Disclaimer: The Pokemon franchise not mine.**_

**Author's Notes: **_**This is not based on the anime, but the game and the "Pokemon Special" comics. This will also include death at some points, and probably won't be what you expect. But for those of you who continue to read it, I promise a good and fulfilling story. Read on.**_

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_**Genre:**__ General/Action/Adventure_

_**Rating:**__ T/PG-13; Suitable for teens, 13 years and older, with some violence, minor coarse language, and minor suggestive adult themes._

_**Summary:**__ As the world is slowly swept by a strange phenomenon that turns Pokemon into more dangerous, super aggresive monsters, professor Oak comes to a discovery that may yet put a stop to the impending doom of the human race._

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_**Pokemon: The Tide**_

_-By Shunkuzoku_

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_**Chapter I**_

_**The Calm Before the Storm**_

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A small tongue lapped at a sheet of clear water, the rocky riverbed of the shallow stream visible in the sunlight. The lone Nidorino standing at the streamside had its head bent down to the water as it drank its fill. Suddenly, several pokeballs bounced off its body, and it turned around, agitated.

"Damn! It bounced off!" a small kid with a net in one hand complained amongst his older, bigger friends.

"My turn next!" a girl with her blonde hair in a ponytail shoved him aside and took out a single red and white pokeball. Despite being treated roughly, the kid only smiled sincerely at her. "Think you can do it?"

"Be quiet," she whispered, her tone harsh in her impatience. "I'm gonna catch this Pokemon and make it my pet! Here goes!"

But when she turned to the Nidorino, it had already had its horn pointed at her, its claws pawing angrily against the ground. Intimidated, the girl hesitated a moment too long and the Nidorino charged. Abruptly she realised that her friends were already screaming and running away, and the fact that her own shouts of terror were stifled was more due to overwhelming fear than anything else.

In the split second as she was about to be flattened, a hand gloved in white grabbed her and flung her aside.

-----

Red yawned sleepily as he strolled through the forest, the soothing melody of birds and bugs filling his ears. A short distance away he could hear the soft trickling of flowing water calm his senses.

Smiling lazily to himself, he moved towards its origin - the river where he always used to play with Poli when he was still small. It was also the place where he first met Poli, and since then they had undergone many adventures together. The water Pokemon had even saved his life once when he almost drowned in Vermillion Harbour.

Just as he was clearing the last few trees, several terrified screams echoed from upstream, snapping him out of his daze. Putting on a short burst of speed, he reached the river and hastily flung his only pokeball towards where he could see a lone girl – now he recognized her as Lass, his friend from the town – being terrorised by a fuming Nidorino.

Even as the pokeball released its occupant with a puff of smoke, and even as he hastily followed after its trajectory with his heart pounding rapidly in his chest, Red could not shake off the sick wrenching sensation in his gut. He had a feeling that something bad was about to happen.

-----

"Ahhh..!" Lass had found her voice by the time that she landed painfully on her butt.

Turning back, her attention was immediately drawn to the poisoned horn of the Nidorino, lodged deep in her savior's belly. As her shock subsided, she noticed with growing horror that the Poliwhirl – was that Red's Poliwhirl? – that had saved her life had a deep diagonal gash stretching wide across its stomach - the horn had not only punctured a hole, it had also torn open a big and deep enough wound to reveal what was behind the muscles of its abdomen.

"Poli..!" the water Pokemon croaked out weakly, purple poison and blood streaming like liquid fire through its fingers as it tried to close its wound and hold the Nidorino in place by its horn at the same time. Then a bluish white light shone from its gloved hands, and the girl was blinded momentarily - but even the bright light did not stop her from catching the cry of anguish behind her as a severe cold enveloped her body.

-----

Red let out an anguished cry and fell to his knees at the sight of his Poliwhirl before him. The water Pokemon had frozen itself along with the Nidorino's head and front paws, rendering both immobile. Encased in ice, the Poliwhirl was temporarily suspended from death, but Red suspected that once the ice broke, nothing would save the Poliwhirl from certain death. He had never seen such a big wound on a Pokemon before, and even Pokemon centres had failed to mend less serious wounds.

A solid crack sounded from the ice, as if in response to his thoughts, and he watched with trepidation as the Nidorino began to glow white and fissures slowly webbed through the crystalline structure.

As he slowly rose to his feet, Red picked up several large rocks from the ground. Palming them to get a feel of their weight, he gestured for Lass to get back, not taking his eyes off the Pokemon.

"Lass, run back to Pallet and get me some help," his voice cracked with grief, and she knew that his Pokemon could die from its effort to save her, so she dashed off into the forest, sprinting as fast as she could in the direction of the town.

As the Nidorino freed itself from its icy confines, accompanied by the sound of breaking glass, it also stopped glowing white and Red immediately hurled the rocks in his hands with all his might, one after the other. But none of them met their mark and with the rocks no longer in his hand, his attention was called back to the Pokemon in front of him, and his hopes sank as he noticed that what he was facing was no Nidorino.

He was facing a Nidoking.

-----

When she first exited the forest, Lass immediately encountered a boy she'd never seen before, but beggars couldn't be choosers, and she noticed that the boy had a pokeball strapped to his belt so he could probably help Red.

"Hey!" she panted, bending to put her hands on her knees as she stopped in front of the unknown pokemon trainer, "I need help! My friend's being attacked by a Nidorino! And right now his Poliwhirl is…"

That caught the stranger's attention, and he urged her, "Show me where it is, now!"

-----

"Take that!" Red exclaimed, throwing a pokeball at the Nidoking. If he couldn't hurt it, perhaps he could try capturing it, but the Nidoking simply batted the pokeball aside.

"Shit!" he cursed. He knew that it was nearly impossible to capture pokemon before they were weakened, but he had hoped against all odds that luck would be on his side. It would seem that that was not the case, and he jumped aside as the Nidoking smashed the ground where he was just a split second ago.

"Yaaaah!" he screamed as he noticed that the rocks near where he was standing had been melted by a purple sludge thicker than the poison that had afflicted Poliwhirl. The Nidoking had more potent poison in its claws than the Nidorino had in its horns – things did not look good for him.

"_I've got to weaken it somehow_," he thought as he barely dodged slash after slash from the claws of the Nidoking, and the splashes of poison that followed each successive swipe. As he ran, the Nidoking began to gain on him.

"Something so big shouldn't be able to move that fast..!" he cursed, dodging yet another swipe and spurt of poison. Fatigue was beginning to set in and his movements were starting to become more sluggish.

"No good – it's catching up!" he said as he fell into a roll after another dodge. Eyeing a rock with a particularly sharp edge, he picked it up as he regained his footing and launched it at the Nidoking. The corner of the stone by chance pierced the Pokemon's left eye, and it stopped in its assault for a while, hunching in pain as it moved a claw to protect its injured eye from further attacks.

Even tired from the exertion, he noticed the weakness in the Nidoking's posture and took the opportunity to strike while the iron was hot – he launched his second pokeball.

-----

When Lass and the unknown Pokemon trainer reached the stream, all they found was the frozen form of Red's Poliwhirl, its face an expression of untold agony and its gloved hands still covering the gaping hole in its abdomen. The ice appeared to be of several different shades of colour – it was the boy who noticed the discrepancy first – as if a fresh layer had been added repeatedly.

Worried for her friend, Lass looked around and found a path made of broken branches in the forest, and pointed it out to the boy. He looked at it once and nodded, gesturing for her to follow him as he cautiously made his way deeper into the forest.

As he left the stream, he spared the frozen Poliwhirl one last glance, an unreadable expression in his eyes.

-----

"Argh!" Red gasped as the tree he was hiding behind fell and an errant splash of poison hit him in the calf. The sludge had worked away at his jeans in an instant and got to the skin where it stung terribly. At this rate his fate was sealed as collateral damage.

Limping, he moved to take cover behind a new tree whilst the sounds of battle raged behind him.

When he had thrown the pokeball, it had missed its mark completely, instead hitting another Nidoking behind the one with the injured eye. Predator and prey had apparently stumbled into the territory of a second Nidoking, and the two monsters were trying to kill each other – the first one because it was too blinded by rage to think clearly and the second one because it thought that the first Nidoking was trespassing into its territory.

All in all, it was a situation that worked in his favour had it not been that the two Pokemon were powerful enough to send the trees he sought cover from tumbling. The newly evolved Nidoking was weaker and smaller, and had an injured eye to boot, so it was faring badly against its bigger counterpart.

When it fell by the claws of the other Nidoking, Red would have a new problem on his hands. He had been about to run when the poison hit his leg, but now he couldn't even walk properly much less flee the scene. He dared not throw another pokeball lest he called attention to himself, and he knew that even if he caught one of the Nidokings it would take some time to get it to obey him, and it was nigh impossible to catch the stronger one.

Suddenly, the leaves rustled and he stiffened, for fear of being the prey of a different wild Pokemon, but the foliage parted to reveal his friend, Lass, with a boy he did not recognise.

"Hey," he forced a bitter smile, "you could've gotten here sooner."

-----

"So who're you?" Red prompted the boy as they began their trek out of the forest, curious as he had never seen him before. As they walked, the boy had Red supported on his shoulder.

The unknown trainer gave him a sideward glance and introduced himself, "My name is Blue."

"Oh, my name's Red, and this is Lass! We live in Pallet town, where are you from?" Red said with as much friendliness as he could muster after Poli and the Nidokings.

"I'm from Pallet town too," Blue muttered.

"Eh?" Lass butted in, "How come I've never seen you around before?"

Red nodded his assent, "Yeah, I don't recognise you either."

Blue glared at the pair, "I went overseas when I was still young to study Pokemon and just got back. Now, will you shut up before any more wild Pokemon come after us?"

"Okay, okay!" Red said, "There's no need to be a jerk about it..."

"Shut up!" Blue cursed, impatient. He had noticed that the Nidokings had almost finished their battle, and if it came to that the winner would chase them next for trespassing on its territory.

Thankfully, both Red and Lass became quiet after that and they exited the forest without further incident.

Once they were out of the forest, Blue allowed a sigh of relief and looked at Red, "You can come to my house where we'll get you treated. I don't want to walk you back deep into the town, and my house is on the outskirts, so it's nearer. You can thank me later."

Red gave him an odd look at that statement, and just nodded silently.

It was only when they were in front of Blue's house that Red noticed the pokeballs strapped to Blue's belt and he asked, "Hey Blue, why didn't you attempt to fight and capture the Nidokings?"

"Yeah, I want to know too," Lass added.

Blue's only response was a condescending look as he released the boy on his shoulder to support himself, so Red continued, "Oh c'mon, I know you're a Pokemon trainer! You could've taken two injured Pokemon!"

Hearing his words, Blue frowned and began to lecture him, "Didn't you see them battle? I only have one Pokemon, and if I failed to capture it, both would attack us. And even if I did manage to capture one of them, I'd only make an enemy out of the other one and it would've attacked us too, making our escape more difficult."

"But we could've caught both of them between the three of us!" Red countered.

"The chances of that are slim. You don't even have a Pokemon to battle with, and you want to fight two Nidokings?" Blue paused before continuing, "Not to mention that there are other wild Pokemon about who would be attracted by the noise. Could you have survived against all of them?"

Red went silent at that as Poli came to mind, and Blue nodded, "That's what I thought. All that I did was for the best chances of our survival."

"Always know what your limitations are, otherwise you'd only be defeating yourself," Blue said sagely as he entered the house, leaving the door open for their entry. "Don't forget that."

Irked, Red now couldn't get how badly Poli had been beaten out of his head, and could only look at Blue's retreating back regretfully. He knew that Blue was right. Lass and her friends had confronted the Nidorino not knowing their limitations, and she almost died because of that. He had been there to make the choice to save Lass, but in exchange, Poli had suffered more than just a losing battle.

-----

"Wait! Blue is Professor Oak's grandson!?" Red stared incredulously as his attention was drawn to the old professor, "He's your grandson!?"

The professor only laughed at Red's rhetorical question and look of surprise as he finished disinfecting Red's wound and applying the antidote. He then began to rummage in a desk drawer, his back turned to Red.

It was only the two of them left now. Blue had gone to get something from his room before they went back into the forest to check on Poliwhirl, whilst Red was left to be taken care of by his grandfather. Lass, meanwhile, had gone to meet the rest of her friends in case they were worried about her.

The rumours were that the professor was just some mean old nut, so Red had never ventured to talk to the old man and even done his best to stay away from the house. But the guy had just helped to bandage his wound, and when he told him the whole story the old man had even offered to help him diagnose his Poliwhirl, giving him some hope for Poliwhirl's recovery. Now that they were acquaintances, the professor seemed friendly enough.

From the equipment in the house and the array of numerous pokeballs that adorned the tables, he could tell that this place was meant to also serve as a laboratory, so it was probably true that the old man was an expert on Pokemon. This was a place where he could start to get advice on how to be a good trainer. He couldn't let any more of his Pokemon end up like Poliwhirl – he had to become stronger.

"Professor Oak," Red started, thinking back to the water Pokemon's defeat at the horn of the Nidorino, "When we get Poli back, could you teach me to be a better Pokemon trainer?"

"Red," the professor paused and his expression turned into one of contemplation, "do you know what it takes to be a great Pokemon trainer?"

"Huh?" Red asked, blindsided.

"Do you need a bunch of good tricks? Or a team of powerful Pokemon? Is that what you think makes a great trainer?"

"Hmm…" Red rubbed his chin, pondering the question seriously for once, but the professor gave him the answer before he could say anything.

"If that's what you think, you're sadly mistaken. All you need is what's in your heart," the professor turned back to Red and smiled. "That's what you have to learn. When you come to a mutual understanding with your Pokemon… That's the key to strength. That's the key to becoming a great Pokemon trainer."

"Here, Red," the professor said, finally finding the red coloured gadget from the pile of things he was digging in, and handed it to him, "Take this Pokedex. It's an encyclopedia of Pokemon. Whenever you see a Pokemon, its data will be recorded in here."

Red took the Pokedex with some hesitance, his mouth open in awe as the professor continued to talk, "By the time you've completed this Pokedex, you might already be one of the greatest trainers ever."

"Hey gramps," Blue noted as he re-entered the room just in time to see Red accepting the Pokedex, "So you decided to give him the second Pokedex?"

But the professor only laughed and nodded, whilst Red did not even notice Blue's interest at all, focused as he was on the professor's words.

"_Me... One of the greatest trainers ever..._" He dreamt, gazing at the Pokedex.

But little did he know that the world would soon be struck by a growing plague that would stop him from even wanting to chase that dream anymore. For what use would it be to be one of the greatest trainers, when there were none but a handful left in the world? Soon, just being a trainer would be an accomplishment in itself, and he would see new meaning in the bond between trainer and Pokemon.

Especially in the crisis that was to come.

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_**To be continued...**_

_**In Chapter II: The First Waves**_


	2. The First Waves

_**Disclaimer: Nope, I still only own a copy.**_

_**Credits: Kudos to Cem-chan for betaing the first chapter! All mistakes you still see are wholly my fault and are by no means a result of her incompetence. This chapter is as of now not yet beta'd, but it's on the way! Will be updated after beta.**_

**Author's Notes: **_**The real story starts here. If you're confused about the first scene, Raichu have orange fur. For this chapter, I suggest careful reading. It is darker and denser than the first chapter, but brighter events are to come in later chapters. Be wary of graphic depictions of violence. Read on.**_

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That day, everything changed. That day, Pokemon battles truly started to become battles - not of fun or pride or rivalry, but of winning and losing, life and death... Survival and extinction. And not only of the fighters, but of the whole world. That was what rested on the shoulders of a Pokemon trainer that ominous day. Indeed, that was their burden that came with the fall of night.

That was the first wave.

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_**Pokemon: The Tide**_

_-By Shunkuzoku_

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_**Chapter II**_

_**The First Waves**_

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The span of orange skies greeted his eyes as he eventually made his way over the canopy, the shades of sunset suddenly awakening something within him that he hadn't felt in a long time, and a hollow feeling of missing _something_ in his chest reminded him that all was not alright. How could he feign apathy anymore, at such a sight?

A friend raced up the tree branches as she joined in, taking a deep breath as she witnessed the romantic scene of the red evening sun sinking into the long winding strip of water between the trees. Rays of brilliant gold reflected off the surface and gleamed on ripples, whilst an orange dye slowly worked its wonders onto the blue palette that was the sky. "Pika pi!" _What a magnificent sight!_

He could only nod absently in response to her expression of gratitude as the profound emotion rising in his chest seemed to grow immensely heavier with each passing second, threatening to overwhelm him. Tears welled in his eyes, uncalled but not unexpected.

The female Pikachu leapt up onto another branch so that they were at eye level, "Pii...??" _Hey, are you crying? What's wrong?_

But he couldn't focus on the words at all, his heart wouldn't allow him to. He could only gaze through his tears at the globe of sun vanishing over the horizon, the radiance shimmering in his regretful eyes, and it wouldn't be until dark that he would be able to say anything to her.

The two Pikachu continued to witness the melancholic setting, one with memories long since forgotten swimming in his head, and the other with worry as her friend cried silent tears into the night.

Then, she would discover a secret about her friend so dark that it would drive her to comfort him and to forge a new, deeper bond between them. But it wouldn't last, because the first waves of the sinister tsunami that would change their world would have struck by then, and what better place to first ruin than their peaceful little forest..?

-----

"Pikaaa..!" the Pikachu cried out in pain, curled into a fetal position, as he was assaulted from all directions. _Stop it! I don't want to hurt you! I'm not going to hurt my family again!_

But the attacks continued relentlessly, each blow with enough force behind them that would've killed or maimed any other Pikachu. The crazed horde attacked with merciless abandon, striking fast and hard at any and all visible parts of his body. But even through the bodily pain that came to him in growing waves, something profoundly more painful ached deep in his chest.

For a while he just knew that it was over for him, unless he chose to retaliate and strike back against those most precious to him. His gut sank into a pit of hopelessness. This seemed to be a morbid encore of the tragedy that occurred years ago, played out in a sadistic fashion so familiar that his insides twisted in agony. And he thought that he would begin to defeat the memory after what happened just a few hours ago. But he had been far too late.

He had no choice. Now, another memory would join the first scar. Like so many years before, his cheeks sparked with electrical charge as the power built up to massacre his own family, blood relative or not. And to leave only himself in the wake, devastated and torn by his own doing.

His despair pooled in his eyes, unshed, and he unleashed the energy.

"Pikaaa..." an anguished whimper escaped his throat as he watched brethren-turned-monsters fall as corpses.

-----

Red stumbled through the trees, a long gash running up his forearm as he limped on a wounded leg. Frostbite was already setting in, and his skin was dry from the cold. But even as the numbing frost mercilessly failed to spare him from the pain, a more penetrating ache seemed to gape from within him, and he knew that it was loss, it was grief, but more than anything else it was betrayal.

He had never expected Poli to attack him that way, and no matter what anyone else said he knew that it was Poli. Even if the Pokemon was no longer the friend he remembered, even if the Poliwhirl had evolved into a sick, twisted imitation of a Poliwrath, and even if _it_ had fired a beam of ice cold energy at him... He would recognise Poli anywhere. He knew his friend.

And it hurt.

It hurt much more than his arm or his leg and it burned hotter than the tears in his eyes. Still, Red wept silently. To cry audibly would bring the attention of the wild Pokemon to him, and he was in no way capable of fending them off in his current state.

Then the crackle of a branch snapping not from pressure but dehydration sounded from behind him, and he turned sharply. But just as he did, another crackle – though this one carried with it a different property he could not place – sounded from the opposite direction and he thought that his heart had stopped beating for a moment.

He was trapped.

-----

_The lone Pichu dropped the berry that had been in his paws - it was meant to be a gift for his brother - at the terror that greeted his eyes. It was just not possible._

_To him, home was more than just a place to sleep in. It was a place of peace and comfort, where his parents and older brother showered him with loving affection. But now, the image of home was torn apart by the scene that he watched wide-eyed and with a trembling tail._

_Before, he would never had imagined that any Pikachu could challenge a Raichu and survive, but this was clearly not the case. The Pikachu had his back turned, but even so he radiated unnatural strength and menace that rooted Pichu to the spot._

_At the Pikachu's feet, the two Raichu that had brought Pichu up... His parents laid bleeding and broken, still radiating some electrical energy between gasps that pained him to hear. It was the same aura that had helped soothe his mind in the night and put him to sleep, but now the golden glow flickered like a dying flame._

_A hint of rage sparked in the Pichu's mind amidst the fear, but was suffocated when the Pikachu turned to face him. Shock and betrayal flashed in the Pichu's eyes when they met with the Pikachu's hungry ones._

_The Pikachu's eyes glowed with an eerie green, but even though the colour was different, he could recognise his brother anywhere. The Pichu opened his mouth to scream something he could not place - it was a raw emotion between rage and fear and grief and betrayal - but before he could even let out the slightest of sounds, the eerie green eyes were already staring a hair's breadth into his own._

_The Pikachu's breath was warm and alive and all wrong and unfitting for a creature that had so coldly killed his own parents, and the Pichu had no time to think before a paw wrapped in electricity erupted from the back of his neck._

_Before the pain came and went and everything ended, the Pichu's senses barely registered the eerie glow fading into horror-filled brown Pikachu eyes. And the Pichu suddenly knew that all that had transpired was not of his brother's own evil intent._

_But the Pikachu would not notice the realisation dawn on the Pichu's face, focused on the paw that had impaled his brother's neck. Wallowing in his regret, it would be a while for the Pikachu to regain his senses and pull his arm out, coated in blood to the elbow, and vanish to another forest._

_There, the Pikachu would bury the memories and the guilt until a particularly romantic sunset recalled the painful memories unbidden to nearly consume him._

-----

Blue and gold lightning crackled in an ever widening half-sphere, an off-colour Pikachu situated at its centre. Around the Pokemon, more of its similarly-coloured family littered the forest floor, unmoving. With a shuddered breath from the barely standing Pikachu, the half-sphere receded on itself and seemed to be absorbed into its body.

It was this scene that met Red's eyes when he eventually made the choice to evade a known threat to meet an unknown one. For a fleeting moment he remained rooted to the spot, unable to fathom the carnage before him. Then the Pikachu's ears suddenly perked and it turned to face him, its eyes glowing an unnatural green.

Red shivered as he felt its eyes staring at him, and he slowly pulled his new Pokedex out of his pocket. Aiming it the Pikachu, the device's screen immediately displayed the Pokemon's image. He looked at the bottom of the screen and read the registered information about the species.

"When several of these Pokemon gather, their electricity could build and cause lightning storms..?" he whispered to himself. Still, the colour of the Pikachu (and its fallen brethren) before him was darker, closer to the orange of a Raichu than yellow as depicted in the Pokedex, and its eyes were green in place of black. Also, he suspected that 'lightning storm' was not meant to describe anything even remotely close to what he had witnessed the Pikachu summon up on its own.

It was then that it clicked in his mind. Poli had also shown similar anomalies when it had evolved – its skin turning a sickly green shade instead of the usual blue of a normal Poliwrath's, and its eyes had gained the same unnatural hue as the Pikachu's.

Those eyes now gained a feral glint to them and the Pikachu rose to its hind legs, regaining the blue and gold aura about it. Red could only flinch, squeezing his eyes shut, as a dense bolt of electrical energy shot in his direction.

It would seem that his decision was not a wise one after all – he had escaped one rabid Pokemon to meet his end at another's.

-----

"Charrr..!!" the lizard squealed, abruptly changing directions and taking off into the trees. Blue nodded silently and followed after it at a brisk walk, setting its new Pokeball back on his belt. He had to hurry, lest Red become more prey for the infected Pokemon in the forest.

Feeling the tug on his forearm, Blue hastened his pace. Red's demise was one cause for worry – but his own pain and discomfort too was another. Since the twinning, he hadn't been able to endure being separated too far from his orange-turned-yellow Charmander. But that was a small price to pay, if it meant he could protect himself and most importantly, his only living relative left.

Blue rubbed at his forearm, slowing his steps as the ache dulled into a near painless throbbing. Kneeling down next to the now still Charmander, he warily surveyed the area.

"What's wrong, Charm?" he whispered, "do you know where Red is?"

The Pokemon's glowing eye moved over him, and it quickly shook its head. Blue's eyes narrowed at the implications. At least one hostile party was moving towards them at alarming speed.

He pulled the crystal orb next to his Pokeball off his belt and grasped it tightly. His survival now depended almost entirely on the new technology. The time for taming was over. It was time to kill or be killed.

The orb flashed red in his hands.

-----

The lightning struck home with a loud crack.

Red gasped in surprise at the lack of pain. Even so, he had felt the torrent of energy more than he had seen it. He had also heard the ice shatter, not resilient enough to withstand the weight of the Pikachu's attack. But still he had before witnessed nothing like what the Pikachu had just demonstrated.

The attack had travelled fast and its aim had been true. Unlike normal electric type attacks, it had not travelled in a jagged path, nor had it been summoned from the skies. It had been like a missile, launched straight past him into the newly formed wall of ice which sheltered a Poliwrath that redefined the monster in Pokemon.

And the battle frog's defenses had crumbled before the mouse's lightning. But no amount of betrayal could erase years' worth of friendship. So when the fog dispersed to reveal Poli unharmed, Red did not know what to feel, the emotions twisting in his gut blending into an amalgam he couldn't identify.

_________________________

_**To be continued...**_

_**In Chapter III: Contrast  
**_


	3. Contrast

_**Disclaimer: I wish it were so, but nope.**_

**Author's Notes: **_**Ugh. I was facing five weeks of exams when I began writing this. That's why it took so long. But I made the chapter a bit longer to make up for it. Sorry. In any case, I gave this chapter my all, so I hope you're pleased with the results! Oh, and if you're interested in the colours of the different-coloured Pokemon, they're the 'shiny' version of each species, so you can go look up pictures. :)**_

* * *

_**Pokemon: The Tide**_

_-By Shunkuzoku_

* * *

_**Chapter III**_

_**Contrast**_

* * *

The buzzing reached his ears just as the crystal morphed into the shape of a blade, as long as his forearm, still retaining the translucent red that reminded him that it was anything but an ordinary dagger. Charmander at his side nodded her approval. Now she wouldn't have to fight alone.

Blue paused, hesitant. But could he trust the makers of such a cruel weapon?

Before he could even answer his own question, the sharp point of a lance shot out of the bushes, a sticky green fluid oozing from its tip. As the projectile flew in his direction, Blue hurriedly raised his blade to parry it.

Caught off guard, he managed to only just barely block the lance as it slid off the edge of his blade and grazed the sleeve of his shirt, too dangerously close for comfort. Blue cursed as smoke rose from where the green substance had made contact, eroding a hole in his sleeve.

"Charm, don't just stand there, use your Fire Fang!" he urged, but the Charmander didn't need to be told. She was already moving the moment she saw her partner attacked, racing towards their as yet unseen assailant with a mouthful of flames.

Her charge was cut short, however, as more of the lances shot out of the bushes, each one tipped with the same ooze that Blue now assumed to be pretty potent poison. One hit from that, and the fight would be over, and not in his favour.

But Charm was more agile than he was, and dodged each poisoned weapon with an ease that even seemed graceful to his eyes. Soon enough the assault had ended and the clearing was peppered with the lances.

Now obvious that the ranged attack strategy was futile, their opponent burst out of the same trees the projectiles had come from, its green eyes reflecting its fury as it suddenly appeared in front of the Charmander with both lances poised to strike.

* * *

The Pikachu leapt into the air, spinning as it did so, a ball of charge gathering at the tip of its tail. If anything, the electrical buildup seemed to lend even more energy to its torque, and within a split second it had already become an orange disc with a sparking edge that alternated between gold and blue.

The disc accelerated towards the humanoid frog, and when it came close enough, the Pikachu's tail jabbed into the Poliwrath's chest just above where Red guessed the heart was. Red couldn't help but wonder at the power level of the Pikachu, if Poli was only fast enough to avoid the fatal blow by such a small margin.

But the attack hit, and that was what mattered. For a moment, the electrical energy that had gathered appeared to dissipate from the Pikachu's tail, but the Poliwrath's suddenly tensing body proved otherwise. The Pikachu had injected the charge into the wound, and in doing so it had the Poliwrath paralysed.

The electric rodent then jumped back again, suspended in mid-air, and Red could feel the fine hairs on his arms rising with the energy that began to build up in the air. Red could only watch agape when a bright golden spear of pure lightning formed, its point aimed at the Poliwhirl's unmoving form.

But without any warning, the accumulated energy abruptly dispersed, the charge in the air waning. The mouse that had generated it, too, fell limp to the ground, seemingly losing all its energy as it struck the earth's surface with a dull thud.

* * *

Blue cursed yet again as he identified his adversary.

The Beedrill's two stingers stabbed at Charm's stomach, but they impaled nothing but air. Blue knew that it was confused and angry as it turned its head wildly to the left and right, not seeing a single sign of the fire lizard. He contemplated lunging in to attack whilst it was still disoriented, but that was all the time that Charm needed to make her move.

"Charr..!" a voice snarled from between the Beedrill's wings, and it swiftly turned around to catch the Charmander on its stinger. Too slow. Blue could practically imagine the sudden, searing pain that erupted in its abdomen as Charm bit down with burning fangs, tearing out a good chunk of Beedrill in her jaw.

Even so, the pain did not last long for the insectoid as the Beedrill's wings stopped moving and it collapsed to the ground, dead. Blue breathed a sigh of relief. That had gone much easier and faster than he expected.

But Blue's relief did not last long either, because the incessant buzzing of Beedrill wings still echoed in his ears.

* * *

Yellow bled out onto orange, slowly returning the Pikachu to its natural colour. For a while Red could only stare, speechless, at the rodent's prone form. This was just one more thing to add to the quickly growing list of unnerving things that had occured lately.

When he finally remembered that Poli was not yet incapacitated, only momentarily paralysed, Red hastily took out a Pokeball and approached the Pikachu. Once he was close enough, he went down on one knee and touched the device to its forehead. The Pikachu was captured without a fuss, too unconscious to put up a fight. Red suspected that, even had it still been able to, it would not have registered him as a threat at all.

As if on cue, once Red had the mouse safely in its new Pokeball, Poli's spasms began to subside. Red realised that he had to move fast if he still valued his life, so he sprinted deep into the forest once he had the Pikachu's Pokeball fastened to his belt. Even his arm and leg, wounded as they were, did not manage to slow him down too much.

He just hoped that there were no more wild Pokemon like this one. Because if he came across any, he would need more than just luck to survive the encounter.

* * *

Blue stood back to back with Charm, his crystalline dagger held in a reverse grip in his right hand as he tried to predict the direction from which they would be attacked. Charm, in contrast, had her eyes closed whilst she waited for the inevitable assault. Closer inspection would reveal small tongues of flame licking from between her claws and fangs. She was just as ready as, if not even more so than her partner.

A loud rustling sounded from Blue's right, and he turned to face it, prepared to bury his weapon deep into Beedrill exoskeleton. He was met with the sight of at least half a dozen of the insect Pokemon rushing towards him instead of the one he expected. Yelping, he jumped backward and brandished his dagger, squeezing his eyes shut as he braced for the pain that would come when the swarm reached him.

The Beedrills did not dissapoint as a sharp pain speared in his abdomen, and Blue gasped, dropping his weapon. Straining to open his eyes, Blue realised that the stinger had gone right through his stomach, causing what was probably a fatal wound. Weakly he dropped to his knees, and with some confusion noted that only one stinger had impaled him, and there was only one Beedrill before him.

"_Of course,_" realisation dawned on him as a mixture of blood and bile rose in his throat, "_Double Team._" He might have stood a chance if only he had not been so intimidated.

Choking, he fell to his side, and even the Beedrill's burning green eyes eventually faded to black.

* * *

"Gah!" Red came to an abrupt stop at the point of a crystalline dagger, the ache in his arm and leg throbbing more painfully with each heartbeat that pounded in his chest.

"Oh, it's just a boy," a voice grunted, and the offending weapon was withdrawn from its threatening position in front of his face. Red let out a breath he didn't realise he had been holding, and traced his vision from the point of the blade up a gloved hand grasping its hilt, to the muscled arm behind it, and then finally to the man's arrogant grin.

"Nice to meet you too," he muttered bitterly.

"Hahah! Sorry, sorry," the man laughed apologetically before his face turned serious, "but you know how these forests are..."

Red nodded, wincing at the reminder to his wounds.

"What are you doing around these parts anyway?" the man asked, turning his attention to Red, "it's dangerous for you to be running around without defenses of any kind." As he said this, he gave Red's wounds a pointed look.

Red flinched again under the man's scrutinity, reluctant to reveal his tragedy to anyone just yet. "It's a long story," he muttered without meeting the man's eyes.

The man nodded in understanding, "that's alright. I was just curious anyway."

"What about you? What are you doing here?" Red returned the man's question.

"Hahah!" the man laughed his gruff laugh again, "I'm afraid that's confidential!"

Red sighed. It seems that neither of them would share anything about themselves. From the man's speech, it was clear that he knew exactly the dangers of this area, and that he was armed enough to face them. He also wielded a weapon himself, and had amply muscled arms, so it was clear that he was not just any conventional trainer.

Red noticed that the man wore a tight, short-sleeved black shirt that accentuated his muscles under a camouflage vest. Around his waist, a black leather belt with a plain silver buckle secured his beige cargo pants. He also had on featureless fingerless gloves that were a dark dull colour that was not quite black, and heavy boots of a similar shade. Looking more closely, Red noticed a single Pokeball on his belt – an upgraded kind he had never seen before and thus couldn't identify.

"Like what you see?" the man gave a proud chuckle at his wandering eyes, "these days you need more than just Pokemon to protect yourself. We learned that the hard way back in the war."

"The war..? You were in the army?"

"Ha! I was no less than a Lieutenant, boy..! I was commanding officer to our strongest platoon in the war!" The brawny man flashed a feral grin at him, "Surge's the name!"

* * *

The Beedrill pulled out the stinger that it had plunged into Blue's stomach in its initial attack, and repositioned it to aim at the trainer's neck. "_Die!_" it buzzed.

"_No!_" Charm hissed, terror coursing her veins at the threat to her partner, and charged the insect even as her own abdomen burned with pain. But the Beedrill scored just as her jaws made it around the monster's prothorax, and as she beheaded the creature, a very familiar pain not unlike the one in her belly exploded in her own neck.

Then a cool, tingling sensation in the back of her head slowly bloomed to the front of her face down her snout, down her neck and to the rest of her body.

Charm squeezed her eyes shut as a sudden light sparked in her eyes, but even closing them couldn't block off the intensity of its radiance – the brightness seemed to resound from within her own eyelids.

Then the sensation seeped down her shoulders and flowed down her abdomen, and she forgot all her previous pains. When the ripple of energy eventually reached its final point at her tail, a burst of strength just echoed through her body and she roared at the sudden power.

"Uaaah!" her partner screamed with her, suddenly awake, and she knew that he was feeling the same exhilaration that she was experiencing. Somehow, the realisation roused an even greater power within her, and she couldn't hold back the instinct in her throat despite every ounce of sense that told her otherwise.

She spit a ball of flames at her partner, and the dread grew in her chest as she saw it make contact. But the flames on her tail only seemed to blaze more ardently at the heat.

* * *

"Nope," Surge shook his head, "can't tell you that either."

"Aww c'mon!" Red complained. They had been travelling for over half an hour, and the war veteran had yet to answer a single one of his questions. Before they left, Surge had managed to redress the wound in his leg, as well as patch up the gash in his arm well enough that both seemed like minor wounds now. Red guessed that Surge had seen a fair share of battle wounds, from the man's competence at treating his own.

"Well, you still haven't told me why you want to know yet, eh?" Surge cut down an overhanging branch with his dagger and walked ahead of Red, opening up an easier path for them to follow. So far, they had encountered little resistance on their way towards Viridian, other than a flock of Pidgeys that had fallen to Surge's Raichu in a flash.

"...I know," Red muttered, deflated. He wanted to know more, but he loathed to share his story again. Even so, if he were to understand more of what was going on, then he might find a way to save Poli. So far, they knew little about each other, other than each other's names.

"Alright, tell you what," the lieutenant stopped their advance and turned to face him, "you-"

"Kaa!" a loud squawk cut him off, and Surge dove to the side, pushing Red to the ground with him. "Watch out!"

A large figure, bigger than both of them put together, struck the ground where they were a mere split second before, and Surge quickly rolled back up into a stand. "Move aside, boy! And find a safe place to hide!"

Tossing Raichu's custom Pokeball to the ground he unsheathed his dagger in a single, swift draw, and Red watched, confusion in his eyes, as the golden crystal seemed to twist and writhe as if alive. Too fast for Red to comprehend, the weapon had already morphed into a giant reflex bow longer than its wielder was tall, its arcs recurving back by a bowstring that curiously seemed to be of the same crystalline material as its limbs.

"Didn't you hear me! Scram, little boy! This monster's too much for you!"

Red turned his eyes to the beast that had near ambushed them, and his eyes widened at the sight of it. The giant bird resembled the Pidgeys that had assaulted them earlier, and like them, it had an unnatural colouring that belied its nature. But more than the bird's plumage, which was brighter than its normal counterparts and almost golden, he was struck by its glare. Looking into the monster's piercing green eyes, his blood seemed to turn to ice and Red froze, rooted to the spot.

The Pidgeot squawked again, and spread its majestic wings to attack.

* * *

"Gahhh!" Blue screamed, but not in pain. The flames that licked at his body did not burn a single fibre of his clothes, nor singed single hair on his head; it only seemed to empower him with more of the same thing he experienced back when he first twinned with Charm. But soon enough the flames receded into his body, and with it the waves of energy too waned.

"Ugh..." Blue scrambled to his feet as he retrieved his weapon from where he had dropped it, a bit tired from the fainting and screaming but still feeling the waves of power that coursed his veins. "Charm, are you okay?"

"Charr..!" she squealed, delighted that he was okay. Then he noticed the change.

Her scales were the same yellow colour they had gained after the twinning, but she was now quite significantly taller. From only around his waist level, the top of her head now reached his shoulders. Her face had also become more angular with a longer snout, and a small horn protruded out the back of her head.

"Ah, you evolved," he praised, the reason behind the sudden invigorating burst revealed, "Good job, Charm."

"Char..?" she queried, tilting her head.

"Hold on, let me check the Pokedex's entry on you," he said as he took out his upgraded Pokedex and aimed its sensor at the newly evolved Pokemon.

The Pokedex, upgraded recently, was now a simple rounded square slab of metal with a touch screen on one side and undecorated chrome on the other. At the top of the metal slab, there was a sensor that would capture the three dimensional image of a Pokemon that it was aimed at.

The upgrade also came with an improved user interface. The Pokedex now would display the species' image beside the image of the detected Pokemon for comparison. It also had a function that would somehow calculate the detected Pokemon's power level.

Within moments, the Pokedex had captured Charm's data, and Blue read the description of the species.

_**Charmeleon **__is the evolved form of __Charmander__. A Charmeleon, in turn, can further evolve into a Charizard. Charmeleon are excessively savage and short-tempered by nature, and they are made to be powerful fighters as a result. The flame on its tail may burn a bluish white when the Pokemon is excited, and the air temperature often rises to very high levels when the tail flame is waved around._

Glancing at Charm, he continued to appraise her stats breakdown.

"Alright, seems that you've grown quite a bit," Blue nodded, "your stamina has more than quadrupled, whilst the rest of your stats have at least doubled."

"Charr..!" Charm puffed out her chest, proud at the declaration of her new strength, and Blue laughed a bit at her antics, patting her on the head.

"Good. I expect that facing Pokemon even above the level that we encountered just now wouldn't be a problem anymore," he said as he stored the Pokedex and checked himself for wounds. Finding nothing of consequence other than the holes in his clothes, Blue returned his attention to Charm. "Anyway, we have to be extra careful – we can't rely on evolution to heal us the next time we meet a strong enemy. Now then, we've still got to find Red, so let's go."

"Charr," she nodded, and they continued their search further into the forest. But even as he took each purposeful step, Blue still felt inadequate. The fact that he hadn't managed to score a single hit on his opponents – as well as the swiftness of his defeat – lingered as a haunting reminder of his weakness in a dark corner of his mind.

* * *

The Pidgeot faltered in mid-flight as a golden arrow struck its breast, but it quickly regained stability as well as altitude, the single barb nestled in its feathers too comparatively small to affect it too much. Meanwhile, Raichu was curled into a ball, charging up power whilst it waited for the bird Pokemon to get in range.

"I said go, boy!" Surge shouted again as he pulled back his bowstring and another arrow began to form between his fingers. "I won't be able to protect you while I'm fighting!"

It would seem that that did the trick, and snapped Red out of his initial intimidation. As soon as he realised his precarious position, Red hurriedly dashed for cover behind a tree.

"Go further, where I can get to you but the Pidgeot can't!"

Within moments, over a dozen more arrows had already buried themselves into the Pidgeot's underside, but at its growing altitude Surge's arrows had already lost most of their power and did even less damage than the first one. Then the bird twisted in its flight and turned its beak to the ground. Flapping its wings once, a shockwave exploded behind it and it shot towards Surge at blinding speed.

Cursing, Surge barely had enough time to shift his grip on his weapon, the crystal morphing into a giant battle hammer. Taking this as its cue, Surge's Raichu jumped onto his shoulder and he fell into an evasive roll to the side, holding the hammer out just as the Pidgeot reached them.

The power that Raichu had charged flowed into the hammer in a trail of golden fire, lighting up the whole weapon with an immense measure of electrical energies. Almost too fast for Red to see, the Pidgeot smashed into the charged hammer with a sickeningly wet crack, accompanied by a loud boom as the lightning leapt into the bird's body and then into the ground.

But the avian wasn't done yet, and it squawked its defiance, turning to take flight into the air again. In its wake was a mess of blood and feathers, raining down through the thin canopy as it climbed to an even greater altitude than before.

"Raichu," Surge's voice radiated authority as he shouldered his hammer, the charges spent in his last attack.

The rodent's responded by charging up again, and Surge manipulated his weapon into a massive shield with a menacing spike jutting out of its centre. Moving the shield to cover both his own and Raichu's bodies, he half-supported the shield on the ground as he rested it at an angle on his shoulder and forearm.

Blinded in its fury, the Pidgeot's beak struck the shield and it bounced off with a loud crack. Even if it had not been impaled by the shield's spike, the broken beak must've hurt it, because the avian seemed severely disoriented as it gave off several feeble squawks.

"Ugh..!" Surge, too, flinched at the vibrations of the resulting impact, and Red knew that the war veteran's whole right arm would have bruises from the bird's dive bomb. However, Surge had no time to waste and immediately switched to offense, his shield reassuming its hammer form. Taking advantage of Pidgeot's close range, he smashed the hammer into the arrows still protruding from its front, forcing the crystals deeper into the Pokemon's body.

"Kaa!" it shrieked in protest, the pain from more than a dozen crystal arrows jarring its senses. Stumbling away from the pair, it was obvious than it was quickly losing power as more blood and feathers littered the forest floor. The white of broken bone was even visible through the feathers in its right wing near a blackened patch, presumably from where the hammer had struck before.

"It's over!" Surge exclaimed, stretching his arm backward as the hammer twisted again into the shape of a javelin, its gleaming point aimed at the bird's breast.

"Rai..!" Raichu sounded its assent, the energy it had built up flowing again down the weapon in a blaze of golden fire. Then Surge launched the weapon in its inevitable trajectory at the Pidgeot, the whole weapon radiating power that released in a series of explosions when it struck flesh and feathers in a single concentrated point.

The Pidgeot's cry of agony died out in its throat as its ribcage was shattered and its lungs punctured. The overload of electricity overworked its heart, and cauterised part of its wounds from within. Still, its corpse suffered spasms from the residual charges in its nerves and muscles, but not for long. With a big chunk missing from its front, the twitching in the remains of its body soon began to subside. After a while, it eventually slumped completely, only supported by the javelin that had it speared to the trunk a tree, and even the smoke coming off its carcass finally began to wane.

It was over.

Hesitantly, Red stepped out from his cover and cast a wary look at the dead Pokemon. The morbid sight of it, however, instantly shook him and made his stomach turn, and he quickly averted his gaze as he tried to hold in his disgust to no avail. Bending over with a hand on a nearby trunk for support, he emptied his stomach of its contents noisily, before continuing to heave blanks. At the same time, Surge recalled his Raichu and restored his weapon to its more compact form, resheathing it on his belt.

Once Red had stopped retching, he wiped his mouth and looked Surge dead in the eye, "I think we both need some answers, Lieutenant."

* * *

Blue's eyes scanned the skies in the general direction where the explosions had sounded from.

"You think that's him, Charm?"

"Charr..?" The Charmeleon tilted her head at him.

Blue shrugged. "Alright, let's head there anyway. We might find something, at the very least."

Charm nodded her assent and followed Blue towards the source of the explosion, flames licking between her claws as she hoped for a chance to test her new strength. Noise meant attention. And attention meant wild Pokemon. Wild Pokemon meant blood.

Unseen to anyone else, her tail flame flared just a bit brighter at the prospect.

_**To be continued...**_

_**In Chapter IV: Viridian Ruins**_


End file.
